WHAT A DIFFERENCE 48 HOURS CAN MAKE!!!!!

Finally, a good day with some positive developments!!!!   This morning, Vikki stayed on the pressure test for breathing for about 6 hours now. She “passed” with flying colors…..breathing on her own with minimal support from the respirator……and her heart rate and blood pressure stayed in the normal range.   I am out of town, headed to a client meeting tomorrow morning.  I talked to the nurse before boarding my plane and learned Vikki was doing another pressure test and breathing well.  Once the doctors are pleased with her breathing during these tests, they will take her off the respirator and remove the breathing tube.

Then she will be able to talk (hopefully, although it may be difficult for a few days after they get the tube out) !!!!   And the recovery process can move on to a new phase.  This is like - - jump up and down and shout HOORAY!!!   Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for continued progress.

They removed one of the chest tubes today.  There are four of them that drain stuff from the chest cavity around her lungs.  That’s another sign of positive progress.  Hopefully, the rest will come out soon.  Once they get those out, the therapy folks can start to work on her.

She still has a couple of related issues that the docs are working on…..a fever probably caused by an infection, and a slightly irregular heartbeat….both of which seem treatable.  They have been chasing this infection for a couple of days. We know her new lungs came with some kind of infection and we also know the catheter she was using for her hypertension medication had developed an infection (It was removed a couple of days ago). They did another broncoscopy today to pull secretions out of her lungs.  They are doing cultures on everything, but the results take a few days. They have some antibiotics going now.  Her fever was done this afternoon.

Its about time for some good news!!!!   I  guess she woke up this morning and told herself “time to move on to the next step of recovery.”  And she’s doing it.  She can’t communicate except with head nods until the tube comes out, but you can see the smile in her facial expression.  Pretty soon, she’ll be writing these updates herself.

I think my sister summed it up when she wrote: 

It seems that every time we feel low, she pulls a rabbit out of her hat and restores our spirits.  We will keep watching for her "tricks".

She still has a big hill to climb.  She was just beginning to walk around (with help) before the surgery, and I am sure this will be a setback in her rehab.   No one is talking about timetables yet, but at least we can begin thinking about recovery.